Apples Fall Far
by girl with to much time
Summary: WHen her mother ups and moves to Tulsa, Rose is forced to find herself amongst other 'greasers'. But how can she pay attention to her own problems when she's trying to figure out her mothers? And why does she need to love her own mother? RxR
1. 1

Rose groaned as she anticipated the long walk home from school. She went to public school, so she lived in the district, but it was still an hour long walk from her residential neighborhood to any ware she needed to be. Her family had a car, but her mother needed it for work, and the _Pizzarella_ was about as far from her school as it could get, not to mention her mother got out of work around eight P.M.

So she was pretty surprised to see her mother, in the car, waiting outside her school, not even parked. When Mary's eyes fell on her daughter, Rose, she honked the horn violently, to speed her up. Rose reached the car, and Mary gestured for her to come in.

The minute rose had closed the door of the passenger seat, Mary floored it.

Rose stumbled with the seat belt a little, shocked by her mothers hast.

"Mom!" she yelled, "Slow down!" she glanced at her mother, long enough to see he wild expression.

"Ware are you going?" Rose was hysterical.

"_We_ are getting out of here" Mary turned a corner, making her daughter sick. "We're getting away from _him_".

"Mom," Rose, who was feeling quiet sick from her mothers driving, pleaded, "Please, pull over, we need to talk about this" Mary made no movement to stop the car, went on like her daughter hadn't spoken.

"Mom, who are you running from?" Rose didn't dare look out the window, so her eyes were squeezed tight.

Her mother hesitated, not sure what to answer. Mary Rodea was once considered beautiful; she had golden blond hair and soft green eyes, but has changed since her teenage years; her waist was plumper, her teeth yellower, her hair streaked with early grey, and crows feet around her eyes. But for a moment, she looked just like a scared little girl, who got knocked up and kicked out, and had no idea what she was going to do.

"Mom?" Rose asked. She had the same coloring as her mother- but her hair was cropped short and her nose was a little wide for traditional beauty. Mary had been slightly disappointed when Rose was not as striking as she herself had been, but learned to love her just the same way she learned to love her husband- with difficulty.

"_Him_" Mary finally answered. The car was on the highway bye now, because of the speed of her driving. Rose opened her eyes and shot her mother a confused look.

"From…dad?" rose asked, he mother didn't answer.

"Mom…this is crazy, we need to go back" he mother remained silent, biting down on her bottom lip. Rose realized that she wouldn't get a _why_ out of her mother, so she opted for something ells

"Ware are we going?" Rose asked, trying to read some of the signs they were passing, but her vision wasn't too good, and combined with the speed that the car was going at and her nerves, it didn't quiet work out.

"Tulsa" Mary said. That took Rose bye surprise; her mother had always expressed her hatred for Tulsa, her home town, with no shame. "Rodney made arrangements" _that_ did not surprise Rose; her mother still relied on Uncle Rodney. Rodney was the brother of Rose's father, but was madly in love with her mother, to the point of blind stupidity.

"Why Tulsa?" Rose asked, frowning, "You hated it their"

Her mother just shook her head. Rose had a feeling that she wasn't going to get anymore answers out of her mother, so she laid her head back and tried to figure out what was going on.

Her father wasn't abusive, or a drunk and he somehow got money, even though he was unemployed. He and her mother always seemed to have a close relationship and really love each other. Then why was her mother running away?

After an hour or so of awkward silence, they arrived in Tulsa; Mary seemed to know her way around, because they did not get lost once on their way to a small, kind of ugly, house.

Rose got out of the car after her mother, who pulled a silver key out of her pocket.

When the two entered the house, they were greeted by the smell of mildew and warm, humid air.

Rose looked around; the front door led into a big room; half kitchen, half dining room and living room. Off the living room, there was a hallway, which probably led to the other rooms. Off the kitchen tier was a bathroom. Over-all, not the ideal place to live.

"Go get the suitcases" Mary said, tossing the car keys at her daughter, there "There we should have everything we need"

Rose did as she was tolled and, with difficulty, lugged the four suitcases back into the house. Her mother was looking in the fridge, ware Rodney must have left some food or beer, and both were the same to Mary.

"The black one is yours" Mary said when she heard Rose come in. Rose nodded and grabbed it, beginning to walk down the hall

"Room on the right!" her mother called.

The rest of the house wasn't very impressive, just a hallway with three doors that led to bedrooms and another bathroom. The door on the right was scratched and the handle took some jiggling to turn, and the room matched; it was small and the walls were coated with white, chipped paint. A bed was carelessly shoved into one corner of the room, as was a cupboard and small desk. There was a window that seemed to be welled shut, and the overhead light was flickering. Rose got the feeling no one had lived here in a long time.

After setting her suitcase down, she walked back into the main room. The house was furnished, no doubt thanks to Rodney, who worked as a carpenter. There was a couch with an ugly, floral pattern, a grey rug, a stained coffee table, a cheep dining table, with two even-cheaper looking chairs, and a kitchen set. The only thing that looked new was the flowers on the kitchen counter, with a note addressed to Mary.

"Start unpacking those two" Mary, who just exited the bathroom, instructed, "I need to arrange something"

Before Rose could object or respond in anyway, Mary was out the door. Rose unzipped the first bag. As she unpacked dishes and sheets, she thought. Her mother was up to something. She wouldn't just up and move to Tulsa on Rodney's money if she wasn't. Her mother wasn't weak, so she wasn't _running_, like Rose had thought, she was in Tulsa on purpose, because even thought she hated it, she needed something.

_But what was in Tulsa?_ A voice in her head questioned.

_I have no idea_. Great, now she was talking to herself.


	2. 2

Mary got home at around nine P.M. to find Rose asleep on the couch. She sat down next to her and moved her head onto her lap, stroking her tousled hair. She was always pushing the girl to succeed, riding her about her grades and appearance, making sure she was used to hard work, teaching her how to do little things in subtle ways; normal, motherly stuff that could seem a little cruel. Mary wanted to prepare her daughter for the real world, the one she lived in, the one ware bad things could happen. She knew Rose resented her for it; but maybe, just maybe, if things turned out bad, Rose would thank her. In a sick way, she almost hoped to see the day rose screwed up and admitted to needing her mother.

The phone rang, yanking Mary from her thoughts. She quickly answered, so that the noise wouldn't wake Rose.

"Hello" she said, slightly scared, if Bill had found her number…

"Mary? It's me, Rodney" at the sound of his voice, Mary relaxed, "Did you find the place OK?"

"Um, yes, your instructions were vary clear, thank you" she ran a hand through her hair as she spoke.

"No problem, did you find the place I referred you to?"

"Yes"

"Did you get the job?" _he sure asks a lot_ Mary thought to herself

"Yes, I'm starting tomorrow"

"Good, that good" they sat in silence, something Mary found quiet stupid, seeing that they were on the phone.

"I need to get some sleep" Mary said simply, "goodnight"

"good-" Mary didn't let him finish before hanging up the phone. She leaned her head back on the couch and heaved a sigh. She would have to be an idiot not to know Rodney was in love with her. She knew ever since he was a teenager, and couldn't stop gawking. But she had never felt _anything_ towards him, not even mild affection; he was just a tool, in a way, and you couldn't go falling in love with a screw driver, no matter how helpful it was.

She got up, making sure not to wake Rose, and got a blanket from her room. She dropped it over her daughters sleeping figure, and stood over her for just a minute. An ugly girl could mean the world to a mother, so how could a girl exactly like a mother be only half loved?

--

When Rose woke up, she was stiff and sore. For a moment, she wondered where she was, but the memories of the previous day came back quickly, and she inwardly cringed.

"Morning" her mother called from the kitchen, ware she was cooking breakfast, bacon, by the smell of it. "Wake up; you have a lot of work to do"

Rose sat up, stretching and groaning. Her back let out a discouraging crack. She looked around; the things she had managed to unpack last knight were all in different places then where she had put them. _Nice to know my works is appreciated_ she thought bitterly.

"I'm going to get dressed" Rose said, trekking of to her room. She rummaged through her bags until she found something clean and acceptable to ware, and yanked it on quickly. When she walked back to the kitchen, her mother was eating at the table, and another plate was across from her. Rose sat down, and began picking at her food.

"Eat" her mother instructed, nodding at the plate, "It ain't gonna get any warmer"

Rose took a small bite, and only then realized how hungry she was. She quickly finished off her food.

"Wash your plate" her mother instructed. Rose did so, and then went to sit at the table again, giving her mother a look; _explain_. Unfortunately, her mother either didn't pick up on the look or didn't care.

"You're registered to school, and will be going, starting tomorrow" Mary said, getting up to wash her own plate, "Don't cause any trouble" she added as an after thought. _As if_. Rose had never done anything 'bad' in her life.

"Do you have a job?" Rose asked. She wouldn't want to live off Rodney's kindness. Her mother was a mooch, and she had every doubt she would mooch of Rodney for as long as she could.

"Yep" Mary said, "but that ain't your business, is it?" she grabbed her coat and purse from the hook next to the door, "Tidy this place up" she said, "then use the money in the jar to buy some groceries, what I brought won't last long, and see if you can find some decent clothing- you look like you threw on the first thing you saw" she then departed, leaving an aggravated Rose in the kitchen.

--

Rose was walking home from the grocery store, hoping she wasn't lost. Her bags were heavy, her limbs were sore, and she was only vaguely familiar with her surroundings. She looked around, hoping to find someone to tell her where the hell she was, but all the people around her intimidated her slightly. She finally saw someone- a girl with stunning hair and a beautiful face- who was less intimidating then the rest. She thanked god inwardly for changing into something more suitable then her filthy outfit she originally wore- and walked up to the girl

"Excuse me", she said, tapping her shoulder, the girl spun around, "I'm new here I was wondering if you knew where this street was" she pulled out the napkin she had scribbled the addressee on.

The girl examined the napkin before giving her directions

"Thanks, I'm Rose Rodea"

"Angela Sheppard" the girl said, scanning Rose briefly, "What year are you in?"

"Sophomore"

"Hu. I'm a freshman- but I got a brother in your year"

"Oh" Rose said, because she had no idea what she was supposed to say

"I gotta get going- see you around, I guess"

"yeah, see you" and with that, the two went separate ways, not planning on ever seeing each other again


End file.
